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U.K. and European readers: Where to find English Rose steel cabinets

Forum reader U.K. Alison asked if someone could help her ship vintage steel cabinets overseas, so I made sure she knew about English Rose cabinets first.

I keep losing this information — and keep having to ask Scathing Jane for it — so I thought I better post it for infinity and beyond. Thanks, Scathing Jane, we hope to see that fabulous St. Charles kitchen reno soon!

Vintage English Rose cabinets (like those above) have a fascinating history: The first English Rose kitchen was made in Warwickshire in 1948, just a stone’s throw from the Wrights’ house, by CSA Industries, an engineering firm that originally made nose cones for Spitfires. After the war ended, CSA used stock-piles of aircraft-grade aluminium by diversifying into up-market kitchens.

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About Pam Kueber

Comments

Thinking about vintage steel cabinets, etc., and since I own FUTURES Antiques, which handles vintage and antique household furnishings and more, I thought I’d make a suggestion:

I am contacted by people who have such things, but want to eliminate them – sometimes by selling, sometimes by giving them away – IF I’ll remove them. Problems: 1) most of us don’t have huge trucks and warehouses/storage spaces to move and keep monumental amounts of material, 2) idle storage is expensive, 3) idle storage is VERY unhealthy for steel, fabric, wood veneer, etc., and 4) cabinets are perhaps more difficult to match to a room than clothing to a body. For these reasons (and more), I usually decline any such offer. (The only angle I accept is photo consignment, but this doesn’t often work because people want to eliminate the cabinets, etc. IMMEDIATELY, not store them for months/years while I try to find the right home owner.)

My suggestion to you is this: supply a section on your site that lists newest to oldest offerings from individuals and dealers. I know this could be a slippery slope, but you might design perimeters that meet your vision for R.R.

For example, this week I was offered – and I declined, for all the reasons already mentioned – a full kitchen of Youngstown steel cabinets. Because of this, they are now destroyed. It seems a shame, but I have to be practical to keep my business afloat and interesting. (I generally only handle perfect things, ready to go, that can be seen in my showroom.)

Ronn — Anyone with steel cabinets to sell, or who wants to buy, should go straight to the Postwar Steel Forum at the top of this blog. Far right on the upper navigation bar.

60 different brands identified. The top brands Youngstown, Geneva, St. Charles have their own categories. All others going into a “Misc.” bucket. Most recent listings are at the top. From what I can tell, there’s a lot of action there from people looking for cabinets and I know of several happy “marriages” to date.

If anyone’s interested I’ve just embarked apon a project to install an English Rose Kitchen in my house and I’m blogging the whole process at http://www.englishrosekitchen.co.uk .

It’s quite a renovation project, but by being flexible and willng to drive around a lot I’ve sourced enough units for abot three kitchens from eBay and SalvoWEB. They are in various states of disrepair and all need stripping so I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a huge renovation job and part of the reason for my blog is to solicit comments as to where I’m about to go wrong!

For reference, I’ve found the following rough pricing information so far:

Creme de la Creme reproduction at John Lewis of Hungerford approx £1,200 per unit (but they do give excellent service and are charming to boot).

Beautifully reconditioned units at Source Antiques, approx £400+VAT per unit. They have 100s of the things including the hostess trolley and, until a couple of weeks ago, an original boiler, which they understandable dumped!

eBay/Salvo – typically £20-£50 per unit, but be prepared to put in the elbow grease.

My local car mechanic has a body shop and can do the powder coating. He’s usually very reasonable, so if it works out I can pass on his information, which will be useful to anyone who happens to live in West London.